A Thorough Education
by eitHer9335
Summary: A disagreement over a game of Cards to Save the Timeline turns into a lesson on Legends History. The newbies hear the story of Leonard Snart.


**The more self-referential Legends gets, the more it hurts me inside that the newbies don't know all the wacky things that have already happened. This is the tip of the iceberg, and there's so much more I would be happy to write all around this same theme of teaching legends history. SO, if you like it, if you want more, let me know. I really hope you do. (Also posted on AO3 under the same title)**

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Nora laid the cards down on the table one-by-one. "First we have: 'go down with the ship.' Next, 'impersonate a wealthy businessman,'" she read. "Um, that's not heroic at all. The prompt was 'how to be a hero,' were you guys not listening when I said that?"

Zari threw her hands of cards down with a groan. "You guys do not understand how bad my hand is, seriously! It was that or 'steal a time courier.'"

Charlie mimed tears, teasing her, but Ray looked scandalized. "You can't tell us which card is yours! It's the rules!"

Nate jerked a thumb at his best friend. "And he would know. He wrote the rules."

"That's a dumb rule," Mick grunted from his chair, a healthy distance away from the table where they were playing. No one was fooled, however, and he was usually quicker to turn in his card than half the rest of them.

"It is not," Ray countered. "If you know which cards belong to who, bias comes into play, instead of just which card is best! She could, I dunno, chose Mona's card, even if Gary's was actually better."

Several people around the table exchanged knowing looks or snorted into their drinks, while Gary moped, "My card actually sucks this round."

"Sure, Ray," Zari deadpanned. "She's be biased for Mona."

Ray looked confused, but an unexpectedly sweet, shy smile broke out across Nora's face that she quickly hid by laying down the next card. "'Make a passionate speech,'" she announced, setting it in a separate pile from the rest. "It's very Legends… 'Allow yourself to be captured'… meh, it doesn't say what you're sacrificing yourself for –"

"For the team!" Sara protested. "That was implied!"

"Where?" Nora asked drily. "'Cause I've found that most of the times you guys allow yourself to be captured, it's out of pure stupidity."

Ava's eyebrows shot up. "Did Nora Darhk the supervillain just resurface? Because if so, give me a moment to get some anti-magic nanites before things go off the deep end."

There was an awkward silence. Sara pulled a face as she leaned over to pat Ava's arm and stage-whispered, "Too soon, babe. Too soon."

Nate cleared his throat loudly, breaking the tension. "I think my card is going to win this round," he stated blandly, and Zari nodded along.

"I saw his card," she agreed, adding stiltedly, "It is good. Yup, a good card."

Nora continued laying out cards, slightly subdued. "'Stay true to what you believe,' 'accidently body swap,'" she paused to let the chuckles die, commenting, "Someone else with a crap hand, I see. Next is, um, 'put saving the world above personal gain,' then there's 'die in place of your friend,' and finally, 'win the friendship of a historical figure.'"

"That's an easy choice," Sara griped. "That card's unbeatable."

"True," Nora agreed. "So who played 'stay true to what you believe?'"

"Yeah!" Nate fist pumped, collecting the prompt card. "My favorite card in the game!"

"What?" Sara protested, sounding confused. "Uh, no, that wasn't the auto-win card. Are you guys dumb?"

Nora shrugged slowly. "Then what was?"

"'Die in place of your friend,'" Ray answered, and Sara nodded along emphatically. "What else?"

"I mean, that card isn't bad, but I think 'stay true' is better," Ava interjected, leaning into Sara and beginning to play with her hair. "No offense."

"She's right," Zari agreed.

Mick spoke up, cutting through the chatter immediately. "Snart."

"Bless you!" Gary piped. "Do you want me to go get a tissue?"

"I didn't sneeze!" Mick roared, and Gary cringed away. "No, Snart was my partner. He's why that card would win."

"I wore his jacket once," Charlie offered. "All I know is, it smelled real nice."

"No, remember we met him? When we fought Thawne and he others at the Somme, and our future selves all got killed?" Nate interjected.

"When you broke time?" Ava added passive agressively.

"That doesn't count," Ray demurred. "That was Snart from before he met us and became a better person."

"No, but we did meet nice Snart," Zari interjected. "When the Vikings took over America, we all met him. Or, I mean, Mona and Charlie didn't but the rest of us did."

"That wasn't Snart!" Mick shouted.

Sara pointed at him in agreement. "That was Leo. Same face, totally different personality." She laughed to herself. "Totally different. I mean, to the best of my knowledge, Snart was straight, so there's that." Mick grunted, and Sara turned to him immediately, disregarding everyone else in the room. "Spill, Mick. Now," she ordered.

He pulled a face. "Mostly straight," he corrected. "There were exceptions."

"So he's got that in common with his doppelganger, huh?" Constantine chuckled. "I met Leo for a hot second last year – and I do mean hot. Shame he was taken."

"Guys!" Ray enthused. "That's exactly why this game is so important! So the newer members of the team can learn about the Legends' history."

Nate put his hand of cards down decisively. "Ray, you had me at history," he announced. "Educate us."

"Well," Ray began, but Mick cut him off.

"Wait, wake up Wolfie first," he grunted. "Otherwise she'll make us tell the story again later."

Gary nodded, "That's a good idea." He reached over to poke Mona's shoulder, calling her name, until she woke up with a growl.

"What, Gary?" she snarled. After a moment the glow in her eyes faded and she stifled a yawn. "What was the prompt again?"

"You've missed the last four rounds," Gary informed her, cringing as if he thought that would piss her off again. "But Ray was about to tell a story and they wanted you to hear it so they didn't have to retell it."

"Better be a good story," Mona murmured, rubbing her eyes.

"It will be," Mick asserted. "Because Haircut won't be telling it, I will."

"He is an internationally acclaimed romance novelist," Nate commented.

"You knew him better than the rest of us anyway," Sara agreed, leaning back. "Take it away, Mick."

Mick paused a moment, taking another swig of beer, then set the bottle aside decisively. "He was one of the original eight that Rip recruited, and for years before that he had been my partner," he began, nodding to himself. "The Flash never could catch us."

Mona's eyes went wide. "You know the Flash?" she whispered.

"Meh. Kidnapped his friends, tried to kill him, so yeah, you could say we're pretty tight. Snart knew him better than I did anyhow." Mona looked starstruck, but Mick was unconcerned. "Snart, he wasn't a do-gooder like Leo, at least not at first. Career criminal, ice cold, only interested in money. That was the only reason we agreed to join this stupid mission anyway: to steal stuff from history."

Ray was absent-mindedly shuffling the deck of cards, and Sara's eyes had gone unfocused. Despite Mick's gruff voice and refusal to look anyone else in the room, he was a captivating storyteller. "He changed a lot over the course of that year. Became all heroic. It really pissed me off at first."

Sara snorted derisively, and Ray opened his mouth to say something, but Mick cut them off. "Shut up! I know." A ripple of laughter ran through the rest of the room, and Mick waited for it to die down before continuing, "We were trying to destroy the time puppet thingamajigger – no I don't want you to tell me what it was actually called –" Ray shut his mouth a little resentfully – "And Haircut was destined to die doing it."

He paused for a long moment, tugging at one of his gloves. Sara surprised everyone by interjecting. "Mick's being humble," she said, and the man in question scoffed and rolled his eyes. "He sacrificed himself for a friend first, he took Ray's place."

"You knocked me out," Ray added, a little angrily.

"Deal with it!" Mick snapped. "Anyway, stupid hero that he was, next thing I know Cap's putting me down in the chair in the parlor, and Snart isn't there. He sacrificed himself, I was royally pissed, and every other version we've encountered of him since then hasn't been the same."

Gary seemed enchanted. "So you were the last to see him alive," he breathed, gazing at Sara with admiration.

"You were super close to him also," Ray added kindly. "I'm sure he was glad to get to say good-bye to you."

Sara nodded slowly, hesitating. Finally, she said, "We had been flirting for months. Playing cards, teasing, throw in a couple near death experiences, and we were on the edge of… something. But we didn't do anything, and he only brought it up once, and I shut him down. He was determined to be the one to destroy the Occulus, and, well."

Ava groaned, squeezing her eyes shut and making a face. "I don't need someone else to be jealous of," she complained.

"He's dead, Sharpie," Constantine criticized. "Not much to be jealous of, and if you just can't help yourself, just cover your ears." He leaned closer to Sara, almost conspiratorial. "What happened before he died, love?"

Sara scoffed. "Just a kiss. Nothing more."

"Perv," Zari added, glaring at the warlock, who shrugged unapologetically.

Mick, however, was peering across the room at Sara with an indecipherable expression. "You kissed my partner while I was unconscious?" he grumbled. "Didn't know that."

Sara shrugged lightly. "Didn't want to tell anyone," she retorted. "The team wasn't as close back then."

Ray took that as his cue. "Well then, good thing we're doing team bonding now!" he beamed. "And speaking of, 'one of your teammates is now evil.' What do you do? Pick your best card, and please don't tell me which is yours!"


End file.
